H.R.3307, “American Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit Extension Act of 2011”, was introduced in the House of Representatives on Nov. 2, 2011, and referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

The Production Tax Credit (PTC) currently provides 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity production for 10 years and is the primary means of tax avoidance that makes wind development so lucrative for big energy companies and investors. It is scheduled to expire for wind at the end of 2012.

In return, there has been no measurable effect on fossil fuel use, carbon emissions, or pollution; a pathetically small number of jobs, mostly temporary, have been created; and left in the wind developers’ wake are divided communities, lost wildlife habitat, continuing deaths of birds and bats – many of them already endangered – and destruction of rural peace and quiet and health.

Faxes and telephone calls are generally more effective than e-mail and web contact. Letters by post are effective but can take weeks to get through security screening. The Congressional Switchboard, at 202-224-3121, will transfer your call to the office of any representative or senator.

House Committee on Ways and Means
(members of Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures in italics)

Also write your Senators to oppose any extension of the PTC or renewal of the “Section 1603 Clean Energy Treasury Grant Program”.

In addition to relaying the information from this alert, consider this submission from Laura Jackson of Save Our Allegheny Ridges:

We have wasted billions of taxpayer money on industrial wind projects that pad the pockets of corporations – many of them foreign companies. The number of permanent jobs created by a wind project is paltry. Furthermore, industrial wind projects do NOT eliminate any appreciable carbon dioxide production. Since wind projects require backup generation, in some cases the amount of pollution is actually increased when baseload powerplants have to run at less than efficient levels. Electricity from industrial wind is expensive, and is dependent on subsidies. Please do NOT support a production tax credit extension.